Running into the cloud

Posted December 8, 2011 at 10:00 am by Marijke Kasius in Cloud Computing.

Thursday the 23rd of November, I attended the Cloud Forum XL event. What I find interesting about such meetings is not just to listen to all different opinions expressed by those present, but especially to hear all the questions put forward. About 500 CIOs gathered at the WTC in Rotterdam to discuss advantages, opportunities, and also risks regarding new cloud technologies.

The event opened with a sobering speech by Gartner’s spokesman. “We are all gathered here together now, but in five years time, no one will remember this security event. In five years time, no one will ask these questions, no one will have these objections, everyone will be a convinced user of the cloud. This is called ‘history repeating’, comparable to the introduction of the credit card, internet payments, personalised email addresses, etc. We have seen it all before.”

Massimo Pezzini then spoke about the lingering sense of insecurity and about finding excuses not to use the cloud. Reasoning based on feelings, not on facts.

Even though the cloud will only continue to grow in the coming five years, cloud based email lags behind. According to Gartner, in 2014 only 10% of all organizations will use cloud based email solutions. The research bureau says this will be because companies have invested a lot of money in good working email solutions, so it wouldn’t be profitable in the short run to (fully) switch.

The editor of CloudWorks does not agree: he claims email as it stands will die out, and in coming years the cloud will perform an increasingly bigger role as communication facility. The cloud is more efficient and therefore saves costs, which will win everybody over.

I enjoy all the clichés that go around during such an event as this one. At the plenary round table session, more than once the obvious was stated. “My main objection is not knowing where exactly my data is stored”, an audience member said. The ICT expert of KPMG present at the table responded: “And in the current situation, you do know where it is? You’re absolutely sure no one has taken any data home, on a memory stick, on an iPad, or any other carrier?”

”But is it safe?” someone else from the audience asked. “In itself a good question”, continued another table guest, PGGM’s CEO of ICT, “but how secure is what you have now, when was its last audit? And your third party, the one that keeps your salary records, are you certain the system they use to produce your pay slip meets security demands? That shocks you a bit, doesn’t it?”

Many questions that deserve attention were raised by people present. The comments mentioned above bring no conclusive answers, but they do put the questions into the right perspective. The point is, these types of questions apply to all situations, not just to cloud related ones.

It’s up to us, as provider, to answer these questions, but even more importantly, to remove uncertainties. Something we already started doing 10 years ago, at the development of hardware platforms for our clients.

Here are some questions we always reflect on:

Problem: Which problems benefit from cloud solutions, and which don’t?

Possible solutions: Which infrastructure do we use? Private cloud, public cloud, combinations, alternatives? What are the chances something goes wrong, and what is the impact? How can we reduce this risk (for example by redundancy, the use of cloud-over-cloud computing) and stipulate it in a contract?

Security: Which data is suitable for the cloud, and which data isn’t? Which BIV code (availability, integrity and confidentiality) is linked to which data?

Integration: How do I integrate the cloud, how does migration work, and what do I need to take particular care of? Who is responsible?

Legal: Recently, there has been much talk about the new privacy acts (Patriot Act, WBP, Escrow, Safe Harbor, Cobit). Which one applies here? Is there existing certification?

Such questions form an excellent point of departure, but, after answering, offer no guarantee the client is convinced of the benefits or impact of the cloud. Cloud Forum XL showed that opinions remain divided on what the future of the cloud will bring. We believe that within five years the cloud is an integral part of IT platforms worldwide, possibly combined with alternatives. One way or the other, we are convinced the cloud is inescapable. By the way, Antony Lye, vice president CRM at Oracle, ventilated a completely different opinion; he does not believe everything will go to the cloud. Gerry Pennel, CIO of LOCOG (London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games) predicts a smooth transition to the cloud will have priority. And although the cloud will strongly grow, he believes the coming five years will see an intermediate phase: coupled platforms.

To our way of thinking, Cloud Forum XL was for 90% dominated by fear of the big bad cloud. Which is really a shame. And a missed opportunity. Questions need to be raised in order to come to solutions (cloud solutions, migration solutions, risk control, and legal compliance), not to feed fears. Because the cloud is really not all that scary.